Drafts Merged On Missile Plan

June 03, 1987|By Thomas Netter, Special to The Tribune.

GENEVA — U.S. and Soviet negotiators have drafted the first joint version of a treaty for the removal of medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe and could conclude a formal treaty by fall, a senior Soviet negotiator at the Geneva arms talks said Tuesday.

The joint draft is the first to be prepared since the arms talks began here in March, 1985, and appears to mark a further quickening of the pace.

But Alexei Obukhov, deputy chief of the Soviet negotiating team, said the draft, which emerged from a negotiating session Monday, contained several important areas of disagreement that could slow progress.

U.S. officials confirmed that two treaties, one submitted by the United States on March 4 and another offered by the Soviet Union six weeks later, had been merged into one rough text, but declined to comment further.

Obukhov said U.S. and Soviet officials had decided to remain in Geneva through the summer to work on the treaty, instead of adjourning the talks, which resumed April 23. Until February, when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev uncoupled progress in the medium-range missile talks from negotiations on long-range and space-based weapons, negotiating rounds usually lasted six weeks.

``We must say that as a result of the work done in the current round, the sides have drafted the first joint draft text of the treaty on medium-range missiles reflecting their positions as of today,`` Obukhov told a news conference. ``Thus, an important step has been made at the negotiations that paves the way for further progress toward finalizing agreement on the draft text.``

But Obukhov emphasized that key differences remained unresolved and would be the subject of difficult negotiations. They include Soviet opposition to:

-- A U.S. proposal to convert some of the 108 medium-range Pershing II missiles in West Germany into shorter-range missiles. The U.S. has argued that this is allowed under the START treaties of the 1970s and would not threaten the medium-range missile treaty.

-- A U.S. proposal that the Soviets begin reducing their estimated 243 medium-range SS-20 rockets aimed at Europe before the U.S. starts eliminating its Pershing IIs and 208 ground-launched cruise missiles in Western Europe. The Soviets say they want both sides to begin dismantling their forces at the same time.

-- The American stationing of 100 medium-range warheads in Alaska, where they could hit Soviet territory. Washington has said that Soviet language limiting U.S. deployments could set a bad precedent for negotiations and U.S. policy goals. Obukhov said Moscow would station its remaining 100 warheads out of range of U.S. territory.

Nevertheless, Obukhov said he was optimistic that these differences could be resolved.

``If those and other similar, negative elements of the U.S. position are removed, there is every possibility to have by this autumn a fully agreed joint draft treaty,`` he said. ``This draft treaty could be considered and signed during the next Soviet-U.S. summit.``

Diplomatic analysts said that Obukhov`s statements could be seen as an effort to put new pressure on U.S. negotiators, while at the same time they also seemed to be in reaction to Monday`s decision by the West German Cabinet to support the elimination of most shorter-range as well as medium-range missiles from Europe.

In apparent response to West German statements that Bonn wants to keep 72 Pershing 1A missiles, which have a range of about 450 miles, Obukhov sought to clarify reports that Moscow would insist on their removal. He said the Soviet position continues to be that any agreement should provide for elimination of warheads: ``We are speaking about nuclear warheads, not about missiles.``

The Pershing 1A launchers are operated by West German troops, but their nuclear warheads are controlled by U.S. forces.